DIY Shoes

I made shoes! I’ve had this kit from A Happy Stitch for over a year, but just now got a bit of sewing mojo. I’ve been pretty hooked on the news this week, so this was a great project to make while listening to our democracy fall apart — or maybe the start of putting it back together? We’ll see.

Anyway, I made shoes! I’ve made baby shoes in the past, which were freaking adorable, but it feels pretty badass to make a pair of shoes that I can wear. I did make a few tweaks to the instructions, as I always do. Read on if you want to get in the weeds.

The espadrille kit comes with soles, twine, needles, wax, much-needed finger protectors, and instructions. In addition to Melissa’s clear instructions in her I Got It kit, I also watched this video and decided not to sew the heel and toe fabric pieces together until the end. Then when I got to the end, I didn’t want to muck it all up with any messy hand stitching, so I used this GLUE. This method really helped get a good snug fit because I could try them on and adjust the pieces before I glued them together. My fabrics were a lightweight canvas and lightweight denim, so the glue was fine, but I can imagine it might be too stiff on thinner fabrics. We’ll see if they hold up! I got a little crazy with the glue and even attached some labels to the inside. I was planning to send these to quilt market, but with the unbelievable heat here in Atlanta, I want to wear them now.

The fabric is from my next collection, Paper, which will be in my shop this weekend. Here are the other colorways for this design.   Shops — you can order this collection wholesale in the U.S. from Seven Islands Fabric or in Europe from Nunoya.

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